The Background

The demand for advanced radiation detectors will increase dramatically in the next few years. A number of large research institutes including CERN, GSI, ESRF, XFEL, ITER, JET, ESS and others are either being built or are planning for substantial upgrades before 2020. In addition the concept of quantum imaging is used for materials testing in industry and has gained interest from the medical imaging industry with an expected annual market exceeding 10 billion euros. The challenge addressed by this Platform concerns both the development of high performance detectors and the ability to produce them by European industries. The aim is to create an academy-industry platform to address the key scientific challenges for development of high-performance radiation detectors, to coordinate the research on radiation detectors and build an industrial competitive edge at European level. Strong interaction between leading scientists in academy, industry and end-users is necessary to remove overlaps in research topics, increase piloting of new ideas and facilitate access to national and international R&D funding.
There is a common understanding that the development of radiation detectors is lagging behind and that the lack of high performance detectors is the limiting factors in many applications. An explanation for this is that the research is truly multidisciplinary and that it does not fit into any of the major research programs. There are only a few cross program calls where this type of research is possible. It is now time to consider whether the various involved communities would be interested in joining forces to establish a Technology Platform at European level. This would be done together with industries to raise the awareness of the common needs and to promote a detector roadmap for future research and innovation.